Efficient Strategy for Monitoring Stresses in High-Rise Buildings

Abstract

Structural design of high-rise buildings usually poses a great challenge to structural engineers, especially if those buildings have complicated architectural configurations. The difficulty to model numerically with high precision the different structural elements for these complicated buildings during the design process can result in improper estimation of the straining actions within these elements. Structural health monitoring (SHM) provides a proper tool to ensure the accuracy of these numerical models, in addition to evaluating the structural integrity and safety of structures during and after construction. This paper presents an efficient strategy that was utilized for monitoring the stresses within the critical structural elements of Makkah Clock Tower at Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which is the third tallest building in the world. The aims of this strategy were to validate the building analytical design models, verify the design assumptions, and evaluate the building structural integrity and safety during and after construction. This strategy was based on placing vibrating wire strain gauges within the building’s critical structural elements to measure the strains, which can be later converted into stresses exerted on these elements in order to verify the results obtained from the building finite-element design model and to ensure that these stresses are within code limits. The results showed that this strategy provided an effective mean for validating the accuracy of the structural design model and ensuring the structural safety of the building.